Shield against assassin’s poison

By Andy Coghlan

JUST a trace of ricin on the sharpened tip of an umbrella was enough to kill the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, after an infamous attack on London’s Waterloo Bridge in 1978. Now a vaccine against this lethal toxin could soon be available – and it may be needed.

“A big stash of ricin was found in the caves of Afghanistan,” says Ellen Vitetta of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, whose team developed the vaccine. “They weren’t collecting it to make stew.”

Ricin, a natural toxin found in castor beans, is cheap and relatively easy …

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